Sold to Laertes

45“Then said her paramour: ‘Will you not then
Return with us, that you may see again
Father and mother, and their fair abode?
For yet they live, and rumor says are rich.’

46“To this the woman answered: ‘I consent
If first you take an oath —you mariners —
And pledge your faith to bear me safely home.’

47“She spoke, and they complied, and when the oath
Was duly taken, thus the woman said: —

48“ ‘Now hold your peace; let none of all the crew
Speak to me more, in meeting on the road
Or at the fountain, lest someone should tell
The old man at the house, and he suspect
Some fraud and bind me fast, and plot your death.
Lock up your words within your breast; make haste
To buy supplies, and when the ship is full
Of all things needful, let a messenger
Come to me at the palace with all speed;
And I will bring with me whatever gold
My hands may find, and something else to pay
My passage. I am nurse to the young heir
Of the good man who dwells in yonder halls —
A shrewd boy for his years, who oft goes out
With me —and I will lead him to the ship,
And he will bring, in any foreign land
To which you carry him, a liberal price.’

49“The woman spoke, and to our fair abode
Departed. The Phoenician crew remained
Until the twelvemonth’s end, and filled their ship
With many things, and, when its roomy hull
Was fully laden, sent a messenger
To tell the woman. He, a cunning man,
Came to my father’s house, and brought with him
A golden necklace set with amber beads.
The palace maidens and the gracious queen,
My mother, took it in their hands, and gazed
Upon it, and debated of its price.
Meantime the bearer gave the sign, and soon
Departed to the ship. The woman took
My hand and led me forth. Within the hall
She found upon the tables ready placed
The goblets for my father’s guests, his peers;
But they were absent, and in council yet
Amid a great assembly. She concealed
Three goblets in her bosom, and bore off
The theft. I followed thoughtlessly. The sun
Went down, and darkness brooded over the ways.
Briskly we walked, and reached the famous port
And the fast-sailing ship. They took us both
On board, and sailed. Along its ocean path
The vessel ran, and Zeus bestowed
A favorable wind. Six days we sailed,
Both night and day; but when Cronian Zeus
Brought the seventh day, Artemis, archer-queen,
Struck down the woman, and with sudden noise
Headlong she plunged into the hold, as dives
A seagull. But the seamen cast her forth
To fishes and to sea-calves. I was left
Alone and sorrowful. The winds and waves
Carried our galley on to Ithaca;
And there Laertes purchased me, and thus
I first beheld the land in which I dwell.”

50And then again the great Odysseus spoke:
“Eumaeus, the sad story of your wrongs
And sufferings moves me deeply; yet has Zeus
Among your evil fortunes given this good,
That, after all your sufferings, you are lodged
With a good master, who abundantly
Provides you meat and drink; you lead here
A pleasant life, while I am come to you
From wandering long and over many lands.”